PA Environment Digest Blog: DEP Soliciting Bids For Plugging 20 Conventional, Abandoned Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Wells Owned By Pennzoil In The Allegheny National Forest

On June 28, the Department of Environmental Protection posted a solicitation for bids on BidExpress.com to plug up to 20 conventional, abandoned and permitted oil and gas wastewater injection wells in Highland Township, Elk County on Allegheny National Forest land.

The wells are owned by the Pennzoil Company, a multinational oil company which makes a range of products for the consumer motor oil market, and were generally in use in the 1980s.

DEP estimated the cost of cleaning out and plugging the wells is between $1 million and $5 million.

In June of 2023, DEP issued two contracts for cleaning out and plugging 23 abandoned, conventional and permitted oil and gas wastewater injection wells also in Highland Township, Elk County. Read more here.

These wells were owned by ARG Resources, a company related to the American Refining Group which owns and operates the Bradford Oil Refinery in Bradford, PA, and Pennzoil.

The plugging contracts are funded by well plugging bonds forfeited to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Underground Injection Well Program, not the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Conventional Well Plugging Program.

Visit DEP’s Well Plugging Program webpage to learn more about abandoned and orphan oil and gas well plugging in Pennsylvania.

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